The Academy Insider Podcast - Your Guide to The Naval Academy Experience
The mission of Academy Insider is to guide, serve, and support Midshipmen, future Midshipmen, and their families. Through the perspective of a community of former graduates and Naval Academy insiders, this podcast will help you learn about life at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. Through our shared experiences, Academy Insider guides families through the anxiety and frustration caused by lack of understanding, misinformation, and confusion. This platform is designed to better relationships between midshipmen and their loved ones. This podcast is not affiliated with the United States Naval Academy, the United States Navy or Department of Defense. The thoughts and opinions are exclusively those of your host and his guests.
The Academy Insider Podcast - Your Guide to The Naval Academy Experience
#003 - Plebe Summer Experience Series: Being Your Best Every Day with Guest Troy Thompson '17 USN
Plebe Summer Series: Being Your Best Every Day with Guest Troy Thompson '17 USN
Grant and Troy Thompson discuss plebe summer, leadership lessons learned at the United States Naval Academy and being your best every day.
I specifically wanted Troy to be my first guest on the plebe summer experience series of the academy insider podcast because there are few individuals that I have more respect for than Troy. Troy is an amazing person and an amazing leader and he excelled as a midshipman. He's incredibly smart, thoughtful, and I specifically remember remarking to my dad during my time at the academy that he was going to do big things one day.
Troy was a standout midshipman and there are not many more people I respect more in the world than Troy who is dedicated to excellence in everything he does.
Troy Thompson is a Lieutenant Junior Grade in the United States Navy, currently located in Sasebo, Japan.
He was raised in Powder Springs, GA, and attended Hillgrove High School. After his matriculation through high school, Troy attended the United States Naval Academy and graduated in 2017 with a Bachelors of Science in Cyber Operations. At the Academy, Troy was a 4-year member of the football team, President of the National Society of Black Engineers Chapter, member and organizer of the MBSC, Mids for Kids, MAG, and STEM community service programs, and a Platoon Commander. As a cyber operations major, Troy participated in various projects/showcases and was a guest panelist for the UMUC School of Cyber Security and a guest speaker for a variety of organizations.
Troy and 12 other young men of the class of 2017 started the organization YBE (Your Best Everyday). Their important cause and movement are growing and influencing people every day. He has started a company and hopes to build a non-profit based on YBE.
It all came from the community that he and his friends built, that tight-knit group of 13 from the academy. The number 13 has unique relevance due to the golden 13 who were the first officers of color in the navy. They take their legacy very seriously. They continue to do more things including t-shirts activities in the community, clothes drives, mentoring, tutoring, etc.
In this episode, Troy provides so much tremendous wisdom for midshipmen,
The mission of Academy Insider is to guide, serve, and support Midshipmen, future Midshipmen, and their families.
Grant Vermeer your host is the person who started it all. He is the founder of Academy Insider and the host of The Academy Insider podcast and the USNA Property Network Podcast. He was a recruited athlete which brought him to Annapolis where he was a four year member of the varsity basketball team. He was a cyber operations major and commissioned into the Cryptologic Warfare Community. He was stationed at Fort Meade and supported the Subsurface Direct Support mission.
He separated from the Navy in 2023 and now owns The Vermeer Group, a boutique residential real estate company that specializes in serving the United States Naval Academy community PCSing to California & Texas.
We are here to be your guide through the USNA experience.
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This is your host Grant Vermeer Naval Academy class of 2017 and your academy insider. It's my goal to be your guide through the Naval Academy experience by sharing my stories and providing you insight information into the life of a midshipman.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Academy insider is in no way officially affiliated with the United States Naval Academy. All of the content on academy insider is my own and does not reflect the views of the United States Naval Academy, the United States Navy, nor the Department of Defense.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the academy insider podcast and today I'm extremely lucky to be joined by Troy Thompson, a fellow class of 17 graduate of cyber operations major and a former member of the navy football team for this episode and many more. After this I'll be talking about the plebe summer experience. I plan to bring in many former Midshipman, both men and women, recruited athlete and non athlete and from all over the country with diverse backgrounds to try and provide as many viewpoints as possible into the experiences of plebe summer. I want you all to find a role model who is just like you threw the guests of academy insider so that way you can get the best insight into what to expect from someone who's just like you. I like to think the best way to learn is through stories, so hopefully we can share some really entertaining stories that will help you learn about plebe summer. I specifically wanted Troy to be my first guest on the plebe summer experience series of the academy insider podcast because there are few individuals that I have more respect for than Troy. Troy is an amazing person and an amazing leader and he excelled as a midshipman. He's incredibly smart, thoughtful, and I specifically remember remarking to my dad during my time at the academy that he was going to do big things one day. With Troy we're going to talk about his recruiting experience, the transition to actually beginning plebe summer, and then some of the really important lessons he learned as a result of plebe summer and all of this while he pursues to be his best every day. So make sure to tune into this awesome episode as Troy kindly joins us from Japan, uh, where he is currently serving as a surface warfare officer. So I'm extremely grateful for Troy taking the time out of his day and his busy work schedule to talk with us about his plebe summer experience. I hope you all enjoy it.
Speaker 3:Hey Troy, thanks for coming on the academy insider podcast. I appreciate you've been willing to do this.
Speaker 4:Pleasure's all mine.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. All right. So again for everyone listening, this is going to be another one at the plebe summer series in terms of how was your plebe summer and kind of talking about the plebe summer experience. So Troy, before we get into that, if you don't mind just telling us a little bit about yourself, kind of where you grew up, a little bit about you and your family and then what brought you to the academy. And then once you were at the academy, a little bit of your background. So company major and just let the people get to know you a little bit.
Speaker 4:So born in Syracuse, New York or a 1994 to law school students. Then from there we moved all over the place, Omaha, Nebraska, Atlanta from my land sits on the eye back to Atlanta in Atlanta football and in student government and I have three sisters, all athletes. One it goes to two lane, one that's currently in the process of determining where our next call is going to be for college. Then a young 10 year old athlete currently trying to work her way up the ranks and naturally their brothers and sisters. But what brought me to the academy and to be quite honest, football initially I remember growing up and watching, you know Ricky Dodds and that online team, first time I've ever seen them on the navy game and just seeing the pride that they played with. That was the first time I ever saw an army navy game and I distinctly remember him pitching is on my dad and hey, I can see if I am there, I'm playing, I'm playing that game and I'm, it never occurred to me after that my junior year who can coach, coach, actually Ingram was still at the academy, came spring practice can make a visit. Logan. I stepped on the yard camaraderie, the team environment, the beauty of Annapolis in the summertime. I mean it's obviously not fair that you get to do efficient in the sci academy. They're in the center, they shouldn't allow it. It's kind of cheating once I got to the academy years football quarterback, great time, great team that the Brotherhood is truly alive in pool my greatest lessons and also was able to branch off a little bit during my time at the academy and be a part of various organizations. The shipment action group, I was the president and Nesbie my senior year. A lot of community service organizations and that kind of thing for kids come of the off base in a interaction with initiative and black studies program. It was awesome. That's very active at the academy. I think a lot of different community at large, which is what it's all about. That's me in a nutshell.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Did you have any military in your family? Are you the first person to join the military?
Speaker 4:So interestingly enough, right before Vietnam, I had a uncle Mike, Uncle Mike was stationed in Okinawa about 45 years ago and he actually brought back Samurai swords for my family and I was looking back in the day, it was still in Okinawa. Um, it is a little bit more relaxed as a restriction standpoint than it is now. And Those Samurai swords are still in my family. That's one of the longest legacy in the military that we still have all my uncle Mike.
Speaker 3:That's really cool. And just so just for everyone is listening, like Troy was a standout Mitchem and like I'm telling you, there's not many more people I respect more in the world, in Troy and like just dedicated to excellence in everything he does. And like when I tell you he was phenomenal as a Midshipman, I'm so serious. So for everyone who's listening, who's kind of like, man, I'm not really sure that I'm making the right choice, like I'm coming because I was a recruited athlete, which is the exact same thing. It was for me. Like I had no idea about the academy and I definitely wasn't planning on going to the academy until I started to get recruited for my sport. But I just want to reassure you that there are so many midshipman who came to the academy because they were recruited athletes and that was the main reason they came that were extremely successful at the academy and then go on to love their job in the military, whether that's a division officer on the ship like Troy or into the cryptologic warfare community like myself, like there are so many opportunities and people thrive during their time at and after the academy who got there because of their recruitment as a varsity athlete. So that's definitely, definitely a big thing. And I just want to reassure people who may be recruited athletes and want to becoming any way other than it is just as good of a reason as anyone else to attend the academy. All right, so kind of, yeah, what's up?
Speaker 4:I can't reiterate that tangible assets that you get challenges, those intangibles, listening to your peers and competitors, but with herself it goes a very Michigan as a whole. I can't reiterate that on that.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. All right. Yeah. So kind of next question is is because you were someone who came as a recruited athlete and you kind of weren't necessarily thinking about the academy before that. What did you actually know about the academy prior to accepting your appointment? Like what did you know about the Naval Academy? What'd you know you're getting yourself into before you showed up Friday?
Speaker 4:So prior to accepting my appointment, accepting my offer, I thought that the Naval Academy in Annapolis, I was excited to get their place in either the Naval Academy, your Harvard and between the two. This is my best opportunity to play football, play division one football and get the high level education as well as um, and so I knew football, that's what I knew. I knew, I mean football and I knew that they had a great weapons engineering program and I want it to be Tony Stark. When was like everything aligned prior to accepting my appointment, everything got a little bit more real. You did the piece in our packaging and until you, you know, kind of what they expect and what the timeline's going to be when you wake up, uh, what the, what the workout regimen is going to be and you start to recognize that everything's not going to be centered around football. And that was my expectation, honestly, up to stepping into the yard on Ebay. I was expecting that I was going into football, caring for camp to the paper and you know, a spot that wasn't the case.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 4:That wasn't, that was a big, I interviewed surprise.
Speaker 3:Yeah. You learned that's not the case real quick. Very quickly.
Speaker 4:So it's actually funny walking there that day. I just, everybody's eyes. I can see those eyes. There's a sense of understanding from the process. I was the come,
Speaker 3:she good do they sign, you'll be good. They wait till you get out there and that'd be like a, you're going to be all right and you're like, well why are you saying this right now? And they're like, you'll understand in a couple hours. Yeah. Speaking of that, tell me a little bit about your Id. Who came out with you to id like your family come out with you and then what was your id experience like going
Speaker 4:through? Me and my sisters as well as my and my grandparents. They all came, so I had a pretty pretty big support unit. All my sisters are very young. It's crazy. So they were, they didn't really understand what was going on that I was going away and they just honestly thought it was summer camp. So go in, go into alumni hall, get all my gear. This is all after we had a football meeting. While they prepare, you'd say, Hey, you guys would be great. Make sure you hold the standard. Then the whole, the whole nine yards, the good spiel represent the Brotherhood when you go in. So they can you go in, okay, I'm punk now. Let's get it. Yeah. You had to alumni hall and that's where in processing the, you can go through the whole process of getting in here, getting that big 50 pound bag of items. Okay, wow, I need all this. Um, and then you carry it, those buses, that's where it's you. Oh, okay. This is real. Um, and that moment that the boarding of the buses, that was the most surreal moment where it definitely hit me. Then getting off those buses,
Speaker 3:details are there. Waiting on hurry up, move faster, move faster. No, don't run, move faster. Don't hurry up.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah. So, so that moment, good Ramona. In my, I was the first time that I was afraid honestly in my entire life just because I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't sure what the, what the parameters are, what the guidelines were. That would be one thing. I would definitely recommend. Know what the go and no go. Items are kind of, have an idea of what to expect. That's being well read and understanding what the parameters are. Look at what the rules and guidelines on anything, any, any facet. And you learn that now onsite 20, 20 when I went in bright eyed, bushy tailed, no idea what could be done and what couldn't be done. Yup. Seeing down, you know, I they, I was horrible with my rates and I could not say mission. I can not say I was really bad. Um, and I was honest and so far behind that it took me about athlon per set in order, execute, catch up with all my peers and then finally on the back end, see my family, my final goodbye, your lights and they're looking at you like, wow, are you already have saved? Saved my head, a crooked haircut, my hair lines and that stuff. I'm bald now as little you felt a sense of a change. Definitely change in terms of your reality already changing. Um, your family sees you differently. Air has changed around. Yeah. So you'll see those final goodbyes when you're going into inflammation yet in, in the Games again?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, that's definitely been that. That's something I forget all the time. It's like when I finally got out at the oath of office ceremony and sat down with my family for the last time, like I was shook. Like I remember my family was like, Yo, are you okay? Cause like I had, I had a terrible experience after I had checked it in the hall. Like, I mean it took me like three hours before I was like, what the heck did I just get myself? Cause I was getting screamed at for all these crazy things that you're saying that I didn't know about. Like I was just like walking through the hall and people are like screaming at me, like start chopping, hit a bowl cat. And I'm like looking around for them,
Speaker 4:what does this mean? What does this mean? What are they saying?
Speaker 3:And uh, I remember they brought me like all this food and stuff and I, and I just sat there and I was like, I'm not hungry. I can't eat. So, yeah, that's funny. But yeah, there's different like sense in the air when you're saying those final goodbyes. Uh, definitely. Just to bring that up, you said that you were um, you kind of for the first time you felt like a little fear and a little nervousness. Did that ever turn into like a full fledge? Like what the heck? Did I just get myself into moment or was there ever time where you're like, I dunno, I dunno if I could do this. Like what the heck did I just do?
Speaker 4:First couple of days, there's no interaction with football. I didn't see the end in sight and I was like, okay, I didn't come here for, this is an interesting thing because that's exactly what you're there for. 18 years, my entire life up to that point had been football quarterly. Yeah. It was such a shift. Absolutely.
Speaker 3:And if you don't, I'm just going to catch you up real quick for everyone who's listening. If you are recruited athletes, it is a crazy jump because you do not have sports period for about the first week of plebe summer. So you go in and you have like your last team meeting before plebe summer starts and he gets to know the coaches. He gets to know the other guys that recruited. But like for that first eight days, you don't get to go to your sport. Like you don't get to get away from plebe summer. And that's crazy because I'm telling you right now, eight days during plebe summer feels like an eternity forever. So like it's just really important that, you know, like when you're going there that like that first week is all plead. Some are like, you are not going to get your break. You're not going to go play the game that you love. You're not going to go get away and be around the people that you actually know and are like try to help you out. Right? So that is a big, big thing to realize before you go in and setting realistic expectations that first week, no sports and just all plebe summer,
Speaker 4:first week is in any process is the most pivotal and concerns of grades. My mom has this great quote when she sends it in the letter. Um, and this was kind of something that I've thought about it the first week in this call we'll send the braking is making you need to do, you get broken by design, we get broken and the breaking did make you who you need to be. That's the story of my academy experience to be quite honest. So plebe summer definitely from his first swim says to the first run the, the start regimens 18 chopping the whole nine and purposely breaking your, your ingrained processes in order to make you and mold future leadership. It's the process
Speaker 3:and that that is straight wisdom right there. First of all, your mom is very wise person. That's awesome. But that even then like I didn't have the, I don't even know what the right word but is a consciousness to realize that like I didn't realize that lesson until like my sophomore junior year to the point where I was like, because they always talk about like you got to get comfortable being uncomfortable, but I always thought that was like a physical thing, right? I was like, yeah, I got to get comfortable working out and like pushing myself physically. But now that that's a, that's a mental thing and that's a character thing is like just getting used to in order to become the person and the leader that you want to be, you got to go through that, that breaking down phase in order to build you up with the correct habits and and characteristic traits and everything like that. And that's a real thing. Like you're going to go through a lot of moments during plebe summer where you were just utterly uncomfortable and not even like in a physical way, just like just everything about like your essence and being in like who you are is like going through a transformation, right? Like, like you're saying that pain is the price of growth. Like in order to grow and start to develop, you have to go through that breaking. You have to go through that pain and that's what believes summer summer's all about. So I think that's fantastic lesson. That's really cool that your mom sent you that. But since we're on that lesson, what did you enjoy getting in the mail? So you mentioned that your mom mailed you that letter. What were some of the things you enjoyed getting in the mail? What were some things that you enjoy getting care packages and where are those things that your parents and family were able to do that, that you appreciated and helped you out to enjoy your summer?
Speaker 4:Big thing was letters just because of how much time it takes to write an actual letter. Definitely. Let me get those. Could you tell me what clothes to be asleep in his letters, those letters at night and everybody back home is of me looking at me and expecting me to be excellent. I'm going to talk about that this afternoons. That's yet to go back. Slants is set by having that support system and my support system is id. So clif bars was a big snack that all is asked for. I love chocolate chip clif bars and on the topic and then also listening and put powder. Interesting. I was thinking it up a couple of days on and I had to completely realign my grooming process, never shaved them. Awful. Um, and the expectation is even if you don't have hair, you shaved rationale and dry shave and I'll started getting pimples. There was a lot of of growing that took place in that time. Yeah. It wouldn't have occurred without any, I'll send letters to my father, Hey dad, like I'm getting pimples and things. The base lodge or can you send me a new shaving cream? It's all based off of the, the process snacks with Mars. Gatorades. Yeah. I am sick Gatorade, some King Hall that held back, which is another thing I would definitely recommend you Gatorade to King Hall.
Speaker 3:Oh absolutely. The it to gauge. You can, I remember like during my plebe year and even during the year, like I would have stacks of like 50 Gatorades like it and all my desk just like constantly set up and like pyramid formation because you never know when you're gonna need one and they just provide them for you yet if there are leftovers out there, you gotta you gotta take those. Absolutely.
Speaker 4:At the end of the summer I ended up having I think 50 and they lasted me through. It was crazy. Absolutely crazy. I would say the letters and then you know, whenever your happiness is some people as clip candy, some people it's just going to be, you know, little vitamin C packages. You don't get sick cause you know, it's a new environment, a lot of personnel and new people from new areas, all sorts of things. It's all is that, there's a lot of the beautiful care packages. Essentially. There's a smorgasbord of all the things that you need. I think that's a good list.
Speaker 3:Oh that's funny you say that because that was me. I was the one who was like, I wanted those emergency packets like I drink cause I was tired of being sick. I was also at a point where I was like, man, like I just want something tasty to eat. So like I would have my parents sent me like, oh like golden Oreos. Like that was my thing. I was like man I just want like two Oreos to make me kind of happy at the end of the day cause I'm tired of it. I'm tired.
Speaker 4:Yeah. All right. It's awesome.
Speaker 3:Cool. So we're going to make a little bit of shift now. So you talkin bout some of the lessons learned in the impacts of plebe summer. So we talked to previous in a previous episode about the plebe summer organization and kind of what a squad leader is, what a platoon commander is, would it to be quainter know all of those things because I wanted to put the emphasis about people during plebe summer. It's the people. It's the details that really make sweat. Plebe summer is so I guess my first question to you is, who made the biggest impact on you during plebe summer? Like who was the person that really motivated you and why?
Speaker 4:Two people with school, you as a dot. Five eight 200 pounds short, stocky, prior, and Mister Marine, he was quite honestly when I haven't reached out to them, and I'm sure that's in his day, he's probably what you'd probably be one of the best officers. I know he was professionally competent. You set standards, he communicated effectively, but he also knew how to, you know, like you said, in grand that human aspect and say his leadership and he knew how to push people. Yeah. He was one of the first positive leadership models that I saw somewhere that I truly wanted to emulate. Looking back on it now, secondly, it would be, I'm assuming in some goofy, here's my first set squad leader and I talked about it earlier. He challenged me more than anybody has. I'm not going to say my life. Up to that point. He challenged me mentally and spiritually more than anybody that at that point, and I thank him for that from a physical standpoint. He was a varsity soccer player, so he was a, he was an athlete as well. Yep. So we understood, but you also didn't allow that to be an experience. He would call me at anytime my performance was subpar. Honestly, that may be a lot tougher mentally than I probably would have been otherwise. Oftentimes you, Susan athletes do and Navajo this nappy, we won't be here, but he didn't know how that standards will occur. Yup. He set that standard and he made me be engaged. You made me be involved in the expected, that level of excellence or me and I honestly didn't meet it, but he set the standard and they'll, it took me a little bit longer to reach that standard. I do appreciate him for that because he set the tone for the rest of my academy. Correct.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. That's awesome. And I just want to reiterate again the impact of the squad leader and plead summer. I mean those are the people that as you're getting ready, those are the people that are going to either make or break your plebe summer and leave you with a really positive or really negative taste of what's going on because those are the people that have the ability to really impact your life just because of the amount of time that they spend with you as, I'm just really glad to hear that your squad leader had a one that, but two as a varsity athlete was really able to relate. But like you're saying, there was no excuses for it. It's like, yeah, I know what you're going through, but I'm also not going to let you do anything less than what is expected of someone who is trying to be elite and excel at the academy. And that's like something that I constantly harp on as a varsity athlete is like, look, you're a varsity athlete. Good. Like that's awesome, but guess what? You still need to put in everything that everyone else is putting in and do the extra piece of being of our RC. And that's hard and it's not easy. And sometimes it's not even fair, but if you want to be elite and you want to excel and you want to be great at your job, but also in your passion, in the game that you play, then you have to be willing to put in the extra effort because that's what being a varsity athletes all about. No matter where you go, whether it's at the academy or a civilian school, right, that you are choosing to take on that extra workload and you need to excel in everything that you do. So, uh, that's really cool that that lesson was pushed early on.
Speaker 4:Clarify, it doesn't mean that you're going to like your squad leader probably won't him. I did not like my squad, but it's not about liking. It's about respecting them and understanding honestly, four years later what they did and why they did it. That's where the lessons really the or you know in grant's case, you know what years later when you're actually in that leader position during plebe summer only have to translate what you've been through into learning lessons on a leadership style that you press down on upon the nucleus and that's when the lesson that we take in is when you are the trainer and you are the one executing. I'm doing the mission had been the naval academy and so those pleads to those below you. So that's when it really matters. You're not going to enjoy it while it was happening three years later, four years later, five years, they're looking back and reflecting. That's where I got this wrong. Thank you for that. That's a big piece that I want to make sure you communicate.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no like it in the moment. Thank you so much for putting that perspective in there cause I couldn't be more of the truth and like, Hey, it's not their job to make plebe summer enjoyable. It pleases numbers not supposed to be easy. They are at this point because they have come around to realize the lessons that they learned during plebe summer and they want to make sure that you learn the same lessons. So everything they're doing and when they're being hard on you and they're pushing you and they're not accepting anything, and like you're saying, fun in the moment, you're probably going to hate him for it in the moment, but at the end of the day they're doing it because they care about you and they're doing it because they want you to develop and learn the lessons and be ready to join the brigade and like having that perspective and trying to understand that perspective before you go in and realizing that it's not personal, but it's all a professional development is super important. So I really appreciate you adding that piece. All right. Well since we're talking about most of the Times it's not fun because it sucks in the moment. What was your biggest challenge during plebe summer and then with that, I do want to like be completely for an open and honest in this. Do you feel like there are any unique challenges you faced? Either as a recruited athlete? Because I felt at some times I got an unfair like, oh he's just the Farsi athlete. He doesn't want to be here. He came here for the wrong reasons. Like you come in with kind of a stigma about being a recruited athlete but also you as a black man. Shit man. Do you feel like there are any unique challenges you face either as a recruited athlete or as a black midshipman in addition, just to the normal process of plebe summer?
Speaker 4:Honestly, the greatest challenge thought I had was getting acclimated. Awesome question. When I say constant pressure, I was used to it from a football perspective are constant pressure mentally or rote memorization and doing the little things. When I don't agree with them, I've always been dedicated to doing the little things correct and on the football field cause something that I agree with that understanding that you have to execute even when you don't agree with what the standard is. The Ato who's going to do the chopping and doing sandwiches sound enough, the screaming random stuff. So that was it. That was a challenge. And there was honestly a period of time where this is going to be interesting. I was rebellious. I almost made a joke out of things at times and looking back on it, I can't express enough how I'll challenge that was but it was my reality was the part of what made me the man, cause I think that was the hardest part was getting to the point where I was comfortable enough and competent enough to to execute. That's really where it stems from and when you're not sure of your performance, we find other outlets in order to read it out from a psychological standpoint. I was, I was letting out frustration in that and I mean so I think that was the biggest challenge that I had. Figuring out how to deal with mark lawyer cause I, it's designed to make you fail and figuring out how to, how to execute when you're still, how to continue to execute and per view of all failing. That was the biggest challenge as an athlete. And we talked about the stigma that, I mean it's a very real thing, individual conversations, this ship mates, classmates, company mates, you know, the idea was, hey, you're an athlete, why are you here? You're not going to be here in the future, so we'll need to get involved. And it's funny, like with my roommate looking back, edit a lot of years and I was seen as a motivated athlete in that room. It was almost as if I was doing too much. We had a double stigma almost. Absolutely right, please. Yeah. So there's a double stigma that occurs as you know, wanting to be engaged, wanting to be the best that you can be from kind of being that Joe, that Joe and me in the p waves. So it's kind of finding that balance because it's definitely a balance. You have to find that balance between setting the standard and executing in accordance with and also having the team in this humanistic standpoint, a humanistic connection to others, which is funny because often times and the you that athletes a little bit more humanist, when I say a little bit more human, they're more personable and more engaging and then is a, it's an interesting dichotomy because I think it comes as a result how engaged you have to be with through the ranks with all of our, all of our classmates and teammates, so it's a heck of a thing, but that was the biggest thing that double stigma ears and dealing with finding that balance. That was a tough one cause the black men shouldn't stand point. I think that stuff is challenged with that. Saul was when I'll told myself that I wanted to be a good one or group two major, this was the biggest point where the stigma really, not only was I challenged, I was swayed against doing so. Encourage say, hey, I was honestly, it's not to the biggest, the biggest thing we talked about on the cyber operations, and granted we've had many classes together. It was a tough decision. Cyber operations, there was an internal battle because I was hearing from everybody, Hey, we won't get the help that you need. You won't be able to succeed as, as you want to. And I can honestly say that the opposite was the case. Yeah. And I, I'm thankful that I made that decision to go, I'll go be a group, two major operations, brand new major go into, let's set in the four major at the academy. And I'm saying, I'm thankful I made that decision. But there is a very real stigma against that color. That's one thing. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Just so forever listening to, so when he talks about group one, two and three majors, so a group, one major is an engineering major. So all of your different engineering flavors fall as group one majors, you're group two majors are your math and science major. So computer science, cyber operations, physics, all that different stuff. Falls as a group to major and then your group three majors or the humanities majors, English majors, history majors, so on and so.
Speaker 4:So it's interesting to hear that you were recommended or almost encouraged to take on a group three major, which is like notoriously I guess at the academy a little bit easier than a group one and two major. Yeah, no, which is pretty interesting. So I appreciate you bringing that up if I may please. The challenge that I received honestly, and I was very active, I was very, very active in those organizations and now you see a honestly a blossoming young black machine in, in, in those group one group, two majors with Nesbie right now headed by a mission, the first class folks who are doing a great job continuing along that division of stem excellence at the academy, an academic accent. So it's definitely improving as a result of my year group, the effects that we've spoken to, steps that we took in order to execute. So I think it's getting better, but it was nothing that we've dealt with. And that we had to find it. Interesting. Okay. Awesome.
Speaker 3:Thanks for bringing that up. And I love what you're saying. They're just reiterate like, hey, encourage anyone who wants to go group one or group two major to do it because I mean the opportunity is definitely there.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Cool. So for everyone who doesn't know anything about Troy, Troy and a bunch of the other people from the class of 2017 started the saint called, Why d I just want to push it over to Troy here to let him explain what ybe is and just tell the listeners a little bit about why bee
Speaker 4:it started as a freshman class, 13 members as of right now, the best of friends and know everything about each other. We've spent all the time in the world again, especially near you. You spend all your time with your teammates on[inaudible] was the time. So we learned so much about each other. And one thing that we did is as we all went through our individual challenges, our individual issues, um, we were all committed to each other universal shop or at Stryker excellence. What that resulted in was I organization your best every day, so why do you use answered your best every day and now it's our company. We're also looking to create that, to transfer that into a nonprofit in norcal. Looking in all the major cities where we are dedicated to motivating, pressing people to give their best everyday in their, in their daily endeavors and their own realm, whatever that role may be. It's pretty awesome how, oh that message has translated. We haven't bought 1200 followers on Instagram. If you're a legacy can be communicated any problems at all. It's really interesting to see that daily we see individuals who are communicating, talking about being their best every day as it is also the moment that we've had mean. It all came just from that, that community that we built, that tight knit group who know that the number 13 has a unique relevance to the golden 13 the first officers of color in the navy. So we take it and we'd take our legacy seriously. We take this striving seriously. It's been awesome though and we're continue to do more things. Tee shirts looking at do you know, things in the community, close mentoring, tutoring, etc. So it's definitely been awesome.
Speaker 3:That's really, really special. I'm always an admiration of YBE as all of you guys are for everyone who doesn't know all of the members in there. I know really personally really well and there's a fantastic group of young men in features and not future leaders anymore leaders in in the Navy and Marine Corps. So it's really cool. If you don't mind just telling the listeners if they want to learn a little bit more about your best every day, where should they go to learn a little bit at[inaudible]? Maybe if you didn't want to get a tee shirt, kind of. What's the rap for that?
Speaker 4:Absolutely. So primarily our information, we also have the link on our Instagram. We also have a Facebook page and your best every day and all those links I can get them absolutely right now we have two shirts. The time was shirt, the Gusto shirt Gastone meaning competence. So it's pretty, pretty awesome that we would love to have all the support in the world working on developing a blog. I mean integrating some motivation. Instant empowerment was lectures and sue are and so I referenced law. So definitely going on. Do you have any supportive appreciate it. Cool.
Speaker 3:Absolutely sweet. Well let's make the final transition here into a couple of the last thing. So really the last piece here is what's one thing that you wish someone would have told you prior to heading to the Naval Academy for plebe summer? Like what did you wish you knew before showing up on holiday?
Speaker 4:I think that having the surprise of what exactly to expect was great because it molded me having a general understanding of what life would be like from a running standpoint. So you can prepare the Naval Academy gives you all your information. Yep. And then one final thing, is it fines or quiet? All the, all the chaos. Whether it's going to church on Sundays during that time, that's a lot into the donuts and in me. And yet you can go to or having a book, you have to have something that is for you. It's meditation. Great. If it's a grades, the Bible at migrate, but have something that is for you if you can recenter. Because if you don't have that opportunity to recenter, it's going to be tough to make it here. And then one last thing as well, not just repeated summer, but also for your journey through. And they look at him as well. Find a mentor and take from above perspective their knowledge lessons learned, best practices that they had. Um, absorb those, figure out how to mold those, those towards your best effective action and simultaneously core back down into those below you when you get individuals that are below loading and get those things can give them in a directed fashion to assist them in their process because you know what they're going through with me. I know the individual, the individual issues that they're going through. That was really my two big in the next generation.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. I love that. All right. And then the last piece is, is do you have a last piece of advice for Mitch him in a batch begin plebe summer? Any advice for a midshipman in general and then specifically like we were talking about, any advice for athletes about how to balance that double stigma of one being involved in incorporated with your company, but two is still maintaining kind of like your peers, his athletes and not trying to get made fun of constantly for being, for being a Joe within the brigade.
Speaker 4:I think it's the best way to do it, to be a liaison, integrate those communities to you integrate those communities. It gets easy. Your roommates or friends with the best names in your team, you guys develop study groups in between. It makes the process easier and they'd integrate you off. At the end of the day, we are a common brigade and the more that you do to integrate developed commonalities between those two worlds, two worlds, but the two worlds, the better your experience will be in the less that stigma will be there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that would be my working mood. Absolutely. And I know you don't want to use the word like the words two worlds, but I mean that's the reality of it as it stands right now. Right? Like that. And that's how it is. And so funny enough, when I was the rich commander, and it's still, my advice to this day during fireside chats is, is I would always tell the athletes like, look, you need to make an extra effort to be involved with the company. So for everyone who doesn't know athletes, a lot of the times they have meetings during lunch or they have filmed during lunch, they have some kind of practices during lunch. In normal plebes, they have training during lunch. They'll have what we call literally new meal training. This is more into the academic year as I'm talking about this, but there are some times where some kind of lunch meeting or some kind of lunch practice may get canceled for your sport. Right. But most people assume that you have a meeting anyway, so you can just go to your locker room and take a nap or take an easy way out. But there's a lot of time where you
Speaker 4:can make the extra effort to show like, Hey, this one time that my meeting got canceled, I will go to that one training. I'll make that extra effort just to be there and be incorporated so that way you can be that liaison. You can be that person that people trust and it helps mend and build those relationships because you show about the struggles that the other group is going through. Right. And at the same time, for your non varsity athletes, guess what? Make the extra effort and go to their games. Right. Actually care about their games. What peeves me so much is when people complain about the amount of work that they have to do, but then they don't realize that an athlete has to go through like four hours of practice and go to games at night and they have to do all of the same work I was doing in a compressed amount of time. Right. So each group has their own in different struggles. But if each group can just make the extra effort to try and understand what that other group is going through and be there involved and care about the other people and show that they're invested in what they're going through, then that relationships can be amended. So that's always kind of my advice for that people. And I'm glad you brought that up about being that liaison, being that person who is being involved in both groups and try to mend those relationships because it goes a long way.
Speaker 3:It absolutely goes a little Hawaii. Cool. All right, Troy, you're the man. This has been an awesome interview. I think you provided a tremendous amount of value to all the listeners, so thank you so much for doing that. But we're going to finish this off with a few lightning round quick questions here at the end. So first thing going forward is that, what's your favorite spot on the yard?
Speaker 4:Oh, without a doubt.
Speaker 3:Okay. What about Stribling?
Speaker 4:Those last two years out there and then everything starts to slow down. Scribbling with a place where I would just go and I'll look my luggage just watched the nodes are my peers going, where great to be able to see that and that's where my academy experience way cool to all the parades and then I actually did do,
Speaker 3:we were engaged
Speaker 4:as athletes and then to that, you know that that was those final moments during graduation. Stribling walk was the common thread. Yup.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. All right, second question. What's your favorite meal and King Hall? Oh, Buczek's chicks easy. Takes a Thursday lunch. They get that bug ticket. Yes. All right. Question three. Who was your biggest officer or senior leader? A senior enlisted leader. A mentor during your
Speaker 4:four years? Oh, such a long list.
Speaker 3:Give me a couple of, give him a couple shout outs.
Speaker 4:I've got Lieutenant Colonel Green, Robert Greene's. It's for us a tat and Robert Zoos safety officer who has amazing Lieutenant Alana Abernathy. She was in admissions work with the mission in black studies programs. She'll probably be a captain one day. Awesome. Awesome, awesome people. I'm thankful for all my and my navigation. It's usually a teacher. They're all awesome and in an inch they were here. Great. And then from the senior enlisted standpoint, I had to surmount the brief and I'm already sergeants and sergeant bomb. It's gonna start at Owens now. Master Sergeant. Yeah, they're awesome. Yes. They've all, they all ingrained in me the importance of setting the standard in accordance of executing in accordance with and the importance of, of being a, a Lionheart leader. So I'm thankful that I had, I had three marines that were pretty awesome man. A put their foot on my neck and they ate.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. All right. Next is I, I know you're a big reader. We talk about it all the time. We talk about this one. What's your favorite book? And then too with that is is what is one book you'd recommend someone reads before heading to the Naval Academy? They can be the same book, but uh, kind of what are your thoughts on that
Speaker 4:for the purpose of sharing more knowledge? My favorite book of all time is the four agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. Those words sentence. Honestly, they're just tenants of still stoicism, which was a very big basic. Honestly, you get taught about it throughout the, throughout your tenure at the academy, but it goes a long way. That won't book by him far. I would recommend all of you to read whether you're administrating in an officer, wherever you are, parents read it as well. That book sets the tone for a number of societies and also the seven habits of highly effective people.
Speaker 3:Great Book. Yeah, absolutely. We'll we'll throw out a link to both those book in the show notes. I appreciate, appreciate those shout outs. All right, last question. What is your greatest memory from your four years at the academy?
Speaker 4:Greatest memory. Four quarters. It was frozen outside, so this is the last four quarters that we've had that we had that one. Honestly, it ingrained the warrior mindset is and it was frozen outside. We were up at three 30 and we were grinding. That set the standard, set the tone not only throughout my career in my life.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Hey Troy, thank you so much for coming on, man. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to do this. And I hope for all the listeners, I hope you learned a little bit about plebe summer through true story, but also now that you just learned a bit about, a little bit about life and leadership and just kinda learn a little bit about what the Naval Academy is all about through this discussion. So again, Troy, thanks so much dude. It's been awesome talking to you then. Uh, I hope you have a great day. Take care and uh, have fun out there in Japan.
Speaker 4:Contact with them.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. We'll throw your contact. All right, appreciate it. Troy,
Speaker 1:thank you all for listening to the podcast episodes today, which Troy, please make sure to leave a review on iTunes and be sure to subscribe to the academy incentive of podcast. If you want to know more about plebe summer, check out my video online course in which I go over in detail how someone should prepare for plebe summer, physically, mentally, emotionally, and logistically. You can find that and other articles about plebe summer on my webpage, www.academyandsaturday.com all links discussed in the show are listed in the show notes below and I'm grant from year your academy insider. Thank you so much for letting me be your guide to the United States Naval Academy.
